


side by side with your loved one

by colazitron



Series: 2019 December Holiday Fic Countdown [7]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Christmas Movies, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hand Jobs, M/M, Post-Canon, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:34:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21724876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: The boys do Secret Santa. Matteo picks David's name and is quite proud of his gift, if he does say so himself.
Relationships: Carlos Schmidt/Kiki Machwitz, Jonas Augustin/Hanna Jung, Matteo Florenzi/David (Druck)
Series: 2019 December Holiday Fic Countdown [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559638
Comments: 39
Kudos: 201





	side by side with your loved one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smallbump](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallbump/gifts).



> **A/N:** This was really not meant to be this long, but here we are. It's also my first foray into smuttier territory with these two, and if that ended up not working, please do feel free to leave suggestions on how to do better in the future. Not betaed either, because I have the worst time management skills.
> 
> For smallbump who wanted - spoiler! - Matteo and David getting each other for Secret Santa and accidentally getting each other the same gift.

**_December 1st, Sunday_ **

Almost as soon as the Christmas markets open, Jonas drags them all out for an evening of mulled wine and catching up. They haven’t been hanging out as regularly since uni started as they did over the summer - predictably - but now that it’s apparently The Season (the season of what, Matteo isn’t entirely sure, but Jonas insists and Matteo doesn’t bother protesting), they just have to get together again.

And then, when they’re all cheerful and a little tipsy on mulled wine, Jonas slaps his hands onto the little high table they’re all stood around to get their attention.

“Boys,” he announces. “I think we should do a Secret Santa.”

Abdi and Carlos ooh and aah immediately, Abdi bouncing in place about how he has the perfect idea for what to get Carlos for Christmas.

“That’s not how it works,” David laughs, and Matteo can’t help the way his own mouth twitches into a small smile at the one painted brightly all over David’s features. It’s been a joy seeing David in the summer - all happy and sunshiney and free, but winter doesn’t disappoint on the aesthetic front either.

David has brought his blue beanie out again, and everytime Matteo looks at it - which is almost every day, at this point - he gets that small nostalgic stab in his heart when he thinks of how deeply he associated it with David for a while. Ridiculous, yes, but crushes are objectively ridiculous, so Matteo doesn’t feel bad about it at all.

“You don’t get to pick who you’re gifting to, that’s the whole point,” David explains, voice droll like he can’t believe he has to explain the concept of Secret Santa to a fully grown adult. Sometimes Matteo wonders how long it’s going to take for David to realise that all rules about what a fully grown adult should or should not know and be capable of go out the window when it comes to Abdi and Carlos.

“Oh, that’s true,” Abdi says, a little dejected, but he perks right up again. “But I’m sure I’ll think of something super awesome for whoever else too! Let’s do it!”

Jonas beams at them all.

“Right. Good. Does anyone have a piece of paper and a pen or something?”

“You didn’t come prepared?” Matteo teases, but digs out his wallet to offer an old receipt.

David digs a pen out of his pocket, because of course he has a pen in his jacket, and puts it on the table next to Matteo’s old receipt.

“Okay! I’ll write down everyone’s names and tear it up and then we pick names, okay?” Jonas proposes.

There’s a round of general agreement, and Carlos and Abdi elbow each other excitedly.

David shakes his head at them fondly and then sneaks an arm around Matteo’s waist, leaning into his side.

“What will you give me if you get me?” he asks, voice pitched low, and grinning at Matteo.

Matteo puts on an offended mask and leans away from David.

“That’s not in the spirit of the game!” he insists. “I can’t possibly tell you!”

“If either of you get each other, you can’t gift sex stuff,” Abdi says.

“Yeah,” Carlos agrees immediately. “It has to be something that any of us could give.”

“What, you want me to get David a _bro_ gift?” Matteo asks, now genuinely taken aback. “Absolutely not.”

“Okay, it can be a little romantic, but nothing x-rated,” Jonas says, looking between Abdi and Carlos and Matteo. He’s got that expression on like he’s herding children, or unruly puppies, and, fine, maybe Matteo is just as much of a dumbass as Abdi and Carlos sometimes.

He sighs. “Fine, if you wanna take all the fun out of it…”

“You can give your boyfriend as much sex stuff as you want for Christmas, bro,” Carlos says. “Just not for this.”

David snorts a laugh, looking back and forth between them all.

“I think we can survive that. And we don’t know if either of us will get the other anyway,” he says.

“Exactly. We still have to draw names,” Jonas says and pulls off his own beanie hat, dropping the five tiny folded-up pieces of paper into it. “Who wants to go first?”

“Me!” Abdi shouts, making at least three people in their vicinity look over at them as he grins and reaches into the hat, pulling out a name and making a show out of looking at the name very closely, making sure none of them can possibly read the slip of paper. Then he tucks it into his wallet and grins.

“Okay. Next.”

Jonas snorts a laugh and holds the hat out to Carlos, who doesn’t make quite as much of a show of his pick, but tucks his slip of paper away too, grinning all the while. David goes next and barely glances at whichever name he picked before putting it away again, face unmoving. Matteo does his best not to let anything show on his face either when it’s his turn, because he does actually pick David’s name. Jonas goes last, and grins at them all, obviously pleased his scheme was so easily accepted.

“Well, then. That’s settled.”

“I’m so excited, bros,” Abdi says with a huge grin. “Anyone up for more mulled wine?”

Carlos and Jonas join him, but David turns his head into Matteo’s shoulder to hide a yawn.

“I think we’re gonna get going soon,” Matteo says, reaching his own arm up to wrap it around David’s shoulders and pull him a little closer.

David got back from a visit with his godmother only earlier this day, and he’s clearly wiped out. And as much as Matteo likes hanging out with the boys, he likes the idea of maybe getting David to himself for a bit too.

“I’ve still got some reading to do for class tomorrow,” David adds.

Okay, so Matteo will have to share him with his text books, but that’s okay. He’s used to that.

“Alright,” Jonas says, stepping away from the table and slapping them both on the shoulder. “See you guys soon!”

They all exchange a range of handshakes and hugs, and then Matteo steers David through the crowd towards the closest bus stop.

“You want to go home or study at my place?”

“Yours,” David says. “Laura’s not home.”

For a person who insisted that being alone isn’t all that bad and that ‘everyone is alone anyway’, David really doesn’t like being by himself these days. Occasionally he’ll take a day or two to be by himself, but for the most part, even if they’re just studying or doing things side-by-side, he prefers to do it in a room with someone else. More often than not that someone else is Matteo, and honestly, Matteo wouldn’t want it any other way.

He turns and presses a firm kiss to the chilled wool of David’s beanie, the two of them falling into step easily as soon as they’ve left the crowd of the Christmas market behind.

“Mine it is.”

**_December 5th, Thursday_ **

“What the fuck was that,” Matteo says, staring at the screen on David’d laptop where it’s balanced on a couple books between their knees.

He’s slumped against David’s side comfortably, head resting on his shoulder, hands tangled as they watched a ‘Christmas movie classic, Matteo, honestly you have to see it’.

David laughs. “ _It’s A Wonderful Life_.”

Matteo rolls his eyes and then reaches up with his free hand to wipe the tears off his cheeks.

“Yeah, thanks, I remember the title,” he grouses. “That was very definitely not wonderful.”

“It was wonderful in the end,” David insist. “It’s kind of beautiful, isn’t it? The way his life actually meant so much more than he was aware.”

Matteo sighs and makes a vague noise.

“I guess, yeah. It’s definitely very different than Christmas movies they make these days.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” David says with another laugh. “But I honestly prefer this to whatever trash is coming out this year.”

“Of course you do, Mr. Filmmaker,” Matteo teases.

David shuffles away a little so he can look down at Matteo, head tilted curiously.

“Did you really not like it?”

Matteo shrugs and then leans in to give David a kiss.

“No, it was good,” he says. “I just wasn’t expecting it to be so… real. And harsh.”

“Hm, yeah. But that’s what makes it so good, I think,” David says. “It’s not just glittery kitch.”

“Glittery kitch can be nice. _Last Christmas_ was fun,” Matteo says.

David sighs and smiles at him fondly. “You just like looking at Henry Golding.”

“Who the fuck doesn’t like looking at Henry Golding?” Matteo says with a grin, making David roll his eyes. “No, but you’re right. It’s good. I get why it’s a classic.”

David smiles like that’s all he wanted to hear, so Matteo hooks his pointer and middle finger into the collar of David’s sweater and pulls him down into another, much firmer, kiss, sinking down into the bed as he does. His life certainly is wonderful, and he doesn't need an angel to show him.

**_December 13th, Friday_ **

“Thanks so much for coming along on this, dude,” Jonas says with a sigh. “I have absolutely no idea what to get Hanna for Christmas.”

Matteo chuckles to himself and picks up a fiddly bracelet with a tiny glittery heart on it.

“How do you not know what to get her? You’ve been dating for ages. You’ve given her gifts before.”

“Yeah, but they were always obvious. There was always some sort of an inside joke or something,” Jonas says, taking the bracelet out of Matteo’s hand to study and then putting it down with a grimace. Matteo agrees, actually. It’s quite tacky and he can’t really see Hanna wearing it.

“I want to give her something good this time, you know? Something real.”

He sighs.

Matteo hums and moves further down the display of sparkling jewellery.

“Have you considered that Hanna isn’t really a jewellery kind of person?” he asks lightly.

Jonas shoves him in the shoulder. “I have, dumbass. I’m just getting desperate.”

“Well, that’s not the attitude one should have when gift shopping, possibly,” Matteo says with a grin, and then grips Jonas by the upper arms and steers him towards the exit.

“Alright. We’re going to go somewhere else, and we’re going to find something awesome.”

“You’re right,” Jonas says, trotting towards the exit dutifully. “Totally. Something extremely awesome.”

“Extremely,” Matteo agrees, letting the shop door fall shut behind them.

And they do, actually, find something extremely awesome, something they both think Hanna will like, even if it does take them another three hours and by the end of it Matteo is _this close_ to going back to the desperate bit of finding some jewellery for her.

They also find a small LED lamp that’s shaped like the moon. It’s about the size of a small cantaloupe, and while Jonas pays for Hanna’s present, Matteo picks up the box to inspect it a little more closely.

It’s not the best model of the moon, a little cheap and little too plasticky, but for some reason Matteo finds he can’t put it down. That reason is the voice in his head that sounds like James Stewart and says, ‘ _You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll put a lasso around it and pull it down._ ’

He could give David the moon. That would be cute, right?

“You gonna get that?” Jonas pops up at his side to ask.

Matteo makes a non-committal noise, but then nods.

“Yeah. I am.”

“Cool. For yourself or someone else?” Jonas asks and follows Matteo back over to the cash register.

“For David,” Matteo says. He’s not about to admit it out loud, but if Jonas starts laughing at how cheesy the idea is, he might just turn around and put it back.

But all Jonas says is, “I didn’t know he was into space shit. Makes sense though, with the aliens and everything.”

“Uh, no,” Matteo says, and then shows his bank card to the cashier when he asks if he wants to pay cash or by card. “It’s because we watched this Christmas film the other week where this one guy says he’ll put a lasso around the moon and pull it down for his wife.”

“Dude,” Jonas says, grabbing Matteo’s shoulder and giving it a little shake.

The cashier is trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile by ducking his head as he grabs a paper bag to put Matteo’s little moon lamp into.

“That’s really sweet, man,” Jonas coos, and when Matteo looks over at him just to check that he’s not actually making fun of him, he’s got wide, round eyes and a silly grin on.

“Yeah? You don’t think it’s, like, over the top?”

“No way. David’s gonna love it.”

Matteo breathes a little sigh and shrugs.

“Yeah, I hope so,” he says and grabs the bag when the cashier turns it around to him, now not even trying to hide his grin anymore.

“Uh, we were all there when he gave you that cute little comic for your birthday. You two thrive on that sappy stuff. Trust me,” Jonas says and claps a hand onto Matteo’s shoulder.

Matteo nods and follows Jonas back outside into the newly-fallen darkness. Ugh, winter. Matteo really doesn’t need any help with feeling sleepy at all hours of the day.

“Up for some mulled wine before we head home?” Jonas suggests.

“Nah, I think I’m gonna take off. David is coming over and I need to hide this first,” Matteo says, lifting the bag up for clarity.

Jonas nods wisely. “Alright then, my brother. See you soon, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Matteo agrees and grabs Jonas’ hand when it’s offered, leaning into a brief one-armed hug. 

“Have a good night with your boy,” Jonas says, winking and grinning at Matteo as he takes a step back.

Matteo rolls his eyes.

“Sure, yeah,” he says. Everybody’s going to be home tonight, as far as Matteo knows, so they’re almost definitely just going to hang out, but even if he did tell Jonas that, he probably wouldn’t believe him. Or pretend not to, for the sake of teasing him.

Jonas gives him a sarcastic salute and then turns around, walking off in the opposite direction Matteo needs to go. Matteo checks his phone to make sure he’s got enough time to get home and find a hiding spot for his gift before David said he’d come over, but as always around this time of year, it’s a lot earlier than he thinks it is. Satisfied, he sets off himself, weaving a lazy way through the crowds on the way back to the subway station.

Back at home he bumps into Vicky as she comes out of the kitchen, clutching a large mug of tea between both her hands. She’s a gigantic jumper on and thick socks pulled up over what she’d explained are ‘thermal tights’, whatever that is. She’s not a fan of winter either. (That’s to say - Matteo likes wearing gigantic jumpers and cosying up under blankets, he just doesn’t like that it gets so dark and cold outside.)

“Successful shopping?” she asks when she spots him, and Matteo nods, lifting the bag up to illustrate.

“Nice,” she says, and it’s when she makes to move on to her room that an idea occurs to Matteo.

“Actually, Vicky, could you do me a favour?” Matteo asks.

Vicky shrugs. “Yeah, sure. What is it?”

“Can you hide this in your room?” Matteo asks and holds the bag out for her to take. “It’s for David, and I don’t really have anywhere I’m sure he won’t accidentally find it.”

Vicky coos. “That’s so cute! Can I see what it is?”

“Sure,” Matteo says, slipping out of his shoes while Vicky takes the bag.

“Oh my god,” she says, a bit of a whine in her voice as she peers inside. Matteo looks over from shrugging out of his coat and she looks up to pout at him. “You’re giving him _the moon?_ That’s so fucking cute!”

Matteo feels his cheeks go a little hot, but he smiles, pleased.

Vicky sighs heavily and shakes her head with a mock-heavy frown.

“Your two are so adorable, it’s giving me hives.”

“Hm, sure,” Matteo says. “How’s Mia, by the way?”

It’s Vicky’s turn to blush now, and Matteo would tease her about it more, if the doorbell didn’t go off at the same moment.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s me,” David’s slightly tinny voice comes through the intercom, and Matteo feels his eyes go wide.

“Come on up,” he says and presses the buzzer before hanging up and turning to Vicky.

“David’s early,” he hisses urgently, as though David could possibly hear him. “Go hide that, quick!”

Vicky snaps to attention and scurries off into her room, shouting a “you owe me!” over her shoulder, which is a decidedly different tune than the ‘sure, what do you need?’ from earlier. Matteo’s fairly certain she’s not going to collect, other than to beg some pasta off of him some night when she’s too lazy to cook though, so it’s fine.

Instead of watching her swan off into her room, he turns around to pull the door open, answering David’s beaming smile with one of his own when he hops up the final few stairs with more energy than Matteo has left after his shopping extravaganza with Jonas earlier.

“Hi,” David chirps, and Matteo reaches out to him as soon as he’s close enough.

“Hi to you too,” he says back and pulls David into the flat and into a kiss.

It’s not that he’s trying to distract David so much as that once he’s kissed David hello, he realises this would be an excellent distraction technique. And though Vicky probably doesn’t need any more time to hide his gift for him - because it’s not like David has any reason to search her room for anything - Matteo has never given David a proper gift before. They got together after David’s birthday and summer isn’t exactly a gift giving season. Of course he’s bought David ice cream or a coffee or dinner here and there. But this is different, and Matteo wants it to be good. Perfect even.

Plus, David hums into the kiss and puts his winter-cold hands on Matteo’s cheeks, holding him close as he deepens the kiss. He leans back against the closed door and draws Matteo’s tongue into his mouth, the cold tip of his nose digging into Matteo’s cheek when he tilts his head to press just the smallest bit closer.

Matteo undoes the buttons on David’s coat and then pulls down the zipper so he can slip his arms inside it, finding David’s waist and wrapping his own arms around him to pull them more closely together.

“Are we alone?” David asks, voice pitched low, peppering kisses along the line of Matteo’s jaw.

Matteo’s insides flutter and his cheeks go hot as David dips down to suck a wet kiss just behind his ear at the junction of his neck and jaw.

“No, Vicky’s home,” he manages to stutter out.

David hums thoughtfully and then rights himself again to meet Matteo’s eyes with a smile, glittering dark eyes full of promises.

“We’ll figure it out,” he says, and then pushes Matteo down the hall towards his room.

Matteo laughs a little breathlessly and stumbles over his own feet a little, holding onto David tightly. The door to Matteo’s bedroom closes behind them with a not-quite-soft click and then David pulls off his coat and drops it right there on the floor, toeing out of his shoes at the same time. He crowds Matteo further back until they land on the bed in a tangle of limbs; close and getting closer, warm and getting warmer.

David doesn’t waste any time, just pulls Matteo’s belt open and then undoes his fly, shoving Matteo’s jeans down with greedy hands.

“Any reason you’re in a hurry?” Matteo asks, voice coloured with a laugh that breaks open into a gasp when David rubs his hand deliberately between Matteo’s legs. He hums and leans in for another kiss, still rubbing Matteo gently, cupping him to feel him grow harder in his hand.

“Missed you,” he mumbles in between kisses and then shuffles one leg in between Matteo’s so he can press his thigh against him and push his hands up under Matteo’s jumper and t-shirt instead.

Matteo quiets a gasp because David’s hands are still _cold, fuck_ , and manages to press out, “You saw me yesterday.”

David pulls away, sitting up on his knees but keeping his hands still under Matteo’s clothes, thumbs rubbing at his ribs softly, holding Matteo loosely by the sides, grinning because he knows what Matteo’s answer is going to be before he even asks.

“Would you like me to stop?”

Matteo grins back and grabs David by the elastic waist of his thick sweatpants.

“Absolutely not,” he says and pulls him back in, shoving David’s pants down enough so he can slip his own hand into David’s underwear, feeling out where he, too, has grown hard and just a little wet.

David ducks down to put his mouth back on Matteo’s neck, pulling one hand out from under his shirt to grab his hair and pull his head back so he can get to the soft skin underneath his jaw, muffling his noises in the sucking kisses he leaves there. Matteo shoves his own second hand up under the back of David’s sweater, feels out the knobs of his spine on his lower back, the dimples to either side of it and the way they deepen when David starts rocking his hips, riding Matteo’s hand.

It presses his thigh against Matteo’s arousal mostly accidentally, but the rhythm of it is maddening, makes it hard to stay focused enough to get David off. Judging by the small noises he keeps pressing into Matteo’s skin as his kisses get sloppier though, he manages. David’s hips never stop moving, and Matteo tries his best to ignore the way his own blood starts to sing, the way his second hand grabs at the dampening skin of David’s back because he has to hold on to something.

“Fuck, just like that,” David whispers, reaching down to grab Matteo’s wrist, guiding his hand to right where he wants it. The other hand keeps hold of Matteo’s hair even as his kisses trail off into quiet little gasps and hitches of his breath, David’s face fully pressed into the sheets next to Matteo’s head. He can feel the damp heat of his breath on his ear when David turns his head to suck in a much needed breath, and it makes him shiver from head to toe.

Even more so when David’s movement loses all rhythm, hips jerking against his hand, fingers going tight around Matteo’s wrist and in his hair. He doesn’t make a peep as he comes, no breaths leaving him as he rides the waves until the end and then pulls Matteo’s hand out of his underwear when it gets too much. He exhales in one big rush, gulping in air and running his hand down from the crown of Matteo’s head to his cheek so he can turn his face and kiss him instead.

Matteo whines into it and pushes his hips up, rubbing against David’s thigh. He’s already wound up, knows it won’t take much more. He can probably get off just like this, with David’s mouth on his and his leg pressed against him tightly.

“You want it like this or my hand?” David asks, still a little breathless when he pulls out of the kiss to speak.

“Your hand, please,” Matteo pants, because he’s never going to turn that down when it’s offered, loves the way David’s fingers feel on him, the gentle-firm pressure of them wrapped around him.

It doesn’t take long, or at least Matteo feels like can’t be much more than a minute or two of David’s hand on him, their foreheads pressed together and their panting breaths mingling hotly in between sloppy kisses, before he feels the tension of building arousal snap and spill over David’s hand and the inside of his underwear.

David holds him through it and then wipes his hand on Matteo’s underwear, since that’s in need of a wash now anyway, and leans in for a kiss. It’s firm and sweet and short, both of them still a little too out of breath to keep it going for too long.

Matteo blows out a shaky breath that turns into a laugh and scoots back a little to catch David’s eyes.

“Hi,” he repeats, making David laugh too.

“Hi,” he echoes. “Think Vicky heard any of that?”

“We have a strict headphone policy in this flat,” Matteo says and then puts both of his arms around David’s waist to haul him closer again, tangling their legs up as well as he can with both of their pants somewhere around their knees.

David laughs, but accepts the kiss Matteo tries to give him, humming into it pleasantly.

“I need to wash my hand, Matteo,” he grins when they pull apart again, trying to wiggle out of Matteo’s stubborn hold. “I can’t cuddle you properly like this, come on.”

“Alright, alright,” Matteo relents and lets David go.

They re-dress quickly, Matteo grabbing a clean pair of underwear and switching his jeans for a pair of sweatpants of his own, dashing into the bathroom to wash their hands and pee, and then settle back into Matteo’s bed.

“Good day with Jonas?” David asks when they’re settled, Matteo’s head comfortably slotted up under his chin.

“Hm, yeah. We found a gift for Hanna,” Matteo says and grabs David’s hand, slotting their fingers together. David’s properly warmed up all over now, and Matteo wriggles a little to get closer, or at least feel like he’s getting closer.

“Good,” David says and presses a kiss to Matteo’s hair before adding, “Oh, hey, I saw this funny video on youtube earlier I meant to show you.”

He goes to pull away again and Matteo whines at the loss of contact, making grabby hands at him all the while it takes David to fish his phone out of his discarded coat.

David laughs at him and climbs back onto the bed once he’s got it.

“God, you’re needy,” he teases, and Matteo pulls him down to lie with him again.

“Yes, I am,” he confirms, and slots up to David’s side again.

David laughs again and lets Matteo settle until they’re both comfortable before lifting his phone up so they can both see the screen.

“You good?”

Matteo hums. “Yeah.”

“Okay, hang on. Watch.”

**_December 18th, Wednesday_ **

16:24. Hm.

Matteo looks up from his phone to where David is sat at his desk, bent over a textbook, reading and taking notes.

“Are you staying the night?”

David looks up from his text book and taps at the screen of his own phone, probably checking the time too.

“Uh, yeah. If that’s okay with you?”

Matteo smiles. “Of course it is.”

“Okay,” David smiles back. “Then yes. I’m staying over.”

“Cool. I was thinking we could have pizza for dinner?” Matteo suggests.

David purses his lips and seemingly thinks it over for a moment, then shrugs.

“Yeah, okay. You want to order from the usual place?”

“No, I was thinking I could make some,” Matteo says.

David stares at him. “From scratch?”

Matteo shrugs and twists his fingers together for a moment before making himself relax again.

“I want to try to make something,” he says. _For you_ he doesn’t add, but judging by the soft twist of David’s smile he hears it anyway. It doesn’t always go so well, when Matteo decides it’s time for a new culinary horizon, but he’s gotten better about admitting to himself when a recipe might be helpful after all, and he’s been reading up on how to make pizza for a few days now.

Once an idea settles into his head properly, he tends to want to see it through.

“Alright then. Go make pizza,” David says with a grin. “I’ve got some more studying to do.”

Matteo pulls himself up from the couch and kisses the crown of David’s head in passing.

“Want anything from the kitchen?” he asks.

“Just water, please,” David says, reaching out to catch Matteo’s hand and pull him back for another, proper kiss.

Matteo grins into it and then pulls away.

“I’m just gonna go make the dough for now. It’ll have to rest,” he explains. “I’ll be right back and if you’re done with your studying we can always think of more fun ways to pass the time.”

David raises one sardonic eyebrow at him, but try as he might to pretend, Matteo recognises the glint in his eyes for what it is.

“Oh, can we?” David teases.

Matteo hums and nods and leans in for another kiss.

“I’m sure we can.”

David laughs into the kiss and then gives him a slight push, letting go of his hand so Matteo can make his way to the kitchen.

Matteo’s already got a recipe to follow picked out and bookmarked on his phone, so he gets to work right away, humming along to some album Jonas told him to check out the other day that he hasn’t gotten around to yet. He’s sure Jonas is going to ask for his detailed assessment, and while Matteo has no plans to necessarily provide one, he does want to at least give it a listen.

It really doesn’t take long at all for the dough to come together, though it’s a little sticky at first, and Matteo’s wrists are starting to protest a little by the end of it. Still, he does a passable job of it, if he does say so himself, and by the time it’s stored away in a warm place to rise, David has actually gone through the rest of his reading, and so they pass the time kissing and talking in between, until their lips are swollen and their hair irreparably messy when they finally make their way back to the kitchen to finish the pizza.

“You’re gonna help,” Matteo announces, dragging David behind him by the hand, and ignoring the way he protests.

“But I don’t know what to do!”

“Just do what I tell you. It’s just pizza. You can’t really mess it up.”

“If you say so,” David says, unconvinced.

Matteo laughs and gives him a gentle push over to the counter. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Kinda like that Lady and the Tramp thing, right?”

David stares. “With the spaghetti? How is this anything like that?”

“Well, because they have that song about pizza,” Matteo says. “I never really understood why, to be honest.”

“What?” David asks and laughs. “No, they don’t!”

“Sure they do,” Matteo insists and then sings, with a purposely bad Italian accent, “ _When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie that’s amore._ ”

David bursts into laughter only a word or two in and shakes his head.

“That’s not the song!”

“Of course it’s the song!” Matteo insists, but David shakes his head.

“No, that’s a Dean Martin song!” he says. “The Lady and the Tramp song goes like, _This is the night, it’s a beautiful night, and we call it bella notte._ ”

“No, it’s not,” Matteo says, completely struck dumb. “Is it?”

David laughs. “Yes! They’re not even that similar, I don’t know how you got them confused!”

“Well, I haven’t seen Lady and the Tramp in like twelve years,” he says and then joins David in his laughter. “Fuck. Really?”

“Really,” David confirms.

Matteo shakes his head to himself and then shrugs.

“Well, whatever. We’re still gonna make pizza,” he says and then hands David a few things from the fridge to use as toppings.

David takes them dutifully, lining them up on the counter, and then looks over.

“Wait, were you going to compare us to The Lady and the Tramp?”

Matteo grins. “Maybe. And I’m obviously the lady in this relationship, so don’t even try to argue.”

David laughs again and pulls him closer for a kiss.

“Okay, I won’t.”

**_December 23rd, Monday_ **

“I want to go first!” Abdi announces, bouncing excitedly in his seat the very moment Matteo and David step into Carlos and Kiki’s living room.

The girls are all hanging out at Hanna’s today, apparently, so Carlos invited them over to exchange their Secret Santa gifts.

“Fuck, bro, they haven’t even sat down yet,” Carlos chides, but once Matteo and David have actually set down, no one protests to Abdi going first.

He turns around to pull a wonkily wrapped something out from behind the sofa, and hands it to Jonas proudly.

“For you,” he says and Jonas takes the offering with a laugh.

“Thanks,” he says, already smiling as he pulls open the wrapping paper carefully. Matteo knows for a fact he’s only being slow about it because it makes Abdi antsy where he’s sitting watching for Jonas’ reaction like a hawk.

David turns to hide a laugh in his hand, seemingly having caught on to that too, catching Matteo’s gaze and shaking his head at him.

Matteo shrugs. This is just what these dumbasses are like.

“Oh, hey, cool. Thanks,” Jonas says once he’s finally unveiled the gift, which happens to be a Christmas themed guitar strap.

Matteo isn’t sure how this is supposed to be of any use outside the month of December, but Jonas looks genuinely pleased and gives Abdi a hug and a pat on the back before sitting back down.

“Okay, so, then it’s my turn, right?” he grins and picks the gift bag stood beside the sofa up to offer it to Carlos.

“I’m shit at wrapping gifts, so…” he says with a small shrug.

“Bro, who cares,” Carlos grins, and reaches into the bag to fish out a grey beanie hat with a Green Lantern logo stitched onto the front.

No one really gets Carlos’ passionate appreciation for Green Lantern, of all superheroes, though David concedes that ‘the power of your imagination’ is a pretty cool superpower, but Carlos’ eyes light up and then he laughs.

“Bro, no way!” he says and grabs his own gift to give it to Abdi.

Abdi tears into the paper to reveal an almost identical hat, only in red with the yellow Flash symbol embroidered on it.

“We match!” he says, delighted, pulling the red beanie on over his head.

Carlos grins back at him and puts his own on as well.

“Does that mean…?” David asks, turning slightly to smile at Matteo.

Matteo shrugs. “Guess so.”

David laughs. “What are the odds?”

“Not bad probably considering there’s only five of us and you can’t pick yourself,” Matteo points out with a grin.

“Wait!” Abdi suddenly pipes up. “Does that mean Matteo and David got each other?”

The three boys swivel around to stare at them, and Matteo reaches to the side to retrieve the bag he carried his gift over in. David does the same, and when they pull them out to exchange them, they’re somehow the exact same size - only Matteo’s is wrapped in wrapping paper he begged off Vicky, with tiny little Christmas trees printed all over, and a card he stuck to the top. David’s is wrapped in what seems to be old newspaper he doodled all over in red paint, making his own Christmas trees and stars and the odd ‘ho ho ho’.

“Oh my god, that’s so cool,” Abdi says.

“Yeah, you gotta stop showing us up, bro,” Carlos agrees. “None of us have a boyfriend to impress here.”

“Oh, you’re just jealous,” Matteo says, and swaps gifts with David with a grin.

“I would have wrapped yours like this too, Carlos,” David promises, and then winks at Matteo where the boys can’t see.

“You better,” Carlos grumbles. “Next year, if either of you two get each other, we re-draw.”

Matteo rolls his eyes and bites down a grin at the thought of still being with David, doing all this again, a year from now. From the way David looks up from the gift at him, he’s thinking the same.

“Shall we unwrap them at the same time?” David suggests.

Matteo nods. “Yeah, let’s.”

“It’s so funny they’re the exact same size,” Abdi points out.

Matteo shrugs. “Many things are this size, I guess. Or maybe I put a tiny thing in a huge box.”

He didn’t, but there’s always the possibility that David did.

“I’m sure your thing isn’t that tiny,” Carlos says consolingly, grinning like the Cheshire Cat when Matteo looks up at him to glare.

“Fuck off,” he snaps but grins when Abdi and Jonas start laughing.

David peels the card off the gift and reads the quick quote Matteo put onto it - the one that made him by the thing in the first place - _You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll put a lasso around it and pull it down._ \- and frowns down at the gift. Matteo swallows and tries not to let that look make him nervous. Even if David doesn’t think it’s amazing, he won’t hate it, right? It’s just a lamp after all.

“Together?” Matteo asks again, and David looks up to grin at him.

“Together.”

They both tear into the paper, neither of them bothering with finesse, and when they’ve both pulled it off, a hush falls over the room.

Matteo stares down at the box of an LED moon lamp and for a second wonders if he could have accidentally opened his own gift to David, but there on David’s lap sits the exact same lamp.

“This is fucking bullshit, oh my god,” Carlos complains and somehow that prompts everyone into laughter.

“Did you seriously get each other the same exact thing?!” Abdi cries through his laughter.

Mattoe shrugs, because he knows David knows why, he’s read the card. He’s not really sure why David got it for him, but maybe it was the same exact reason, the same sentiment. _I’d do anything for you._

But then David grins at Matteo, that wicked glint in his eyes that Matteo laughs so much.

“That’s amore,” he says, earning himself confused noises from the other three boys and laughter from Matteo and a shove to the shoulder.

“Fuck off,” he mock-complains, but then puts his hand around the back of David’s neck and pulls him into a kiss. He keeps it sweet and short, mindfully of their audience, but they all jeer anyway, catcalling and telling them to get a room, so really Matteo needn’t have bothered.

“Thank you,” he says when they pull apart again, and David lifts a hand to run his fingers through the side of Matteo’s hair where it’s getting long again after his latest haircut.

“You too,” David says. “I love it.”

“I love you,” Matteo says with a grin, and David pulls him into another quick kiss.

“Love you too.”

“Okay, okay, enough of that. Please explain how the fuck this happened,” Carlos steps in.

Matteo sits back with a laugh, catching Jonas’ eyes and shrugging. Jonas rolls his eyes at him fondly, but grins.

“You explain,” Matteo says, patting David’s thigh and leaning against the backrest of the sofa they’re sitting on, slumping against David’s side as he sighs and then kicks off the story. He already knows they’re going to get teased about this for months, but Matteo looks at the lamp beside him and can’t help but grin.

David already makes everything lighter just by being in Matteo’s life. Having something of his that can literally light up Matteo’s room? Yeah, he loves it. And no matter what story David’s going to tell the boys, he knows David knows that too. Whether he says it or not, it is the same sentiment that made him get this for Matteo.

_You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll put a lasso around it and pull it down._

**The End**


End file.
